Vai is the famous palm beach 24 km northeast of Sitia, a half-moon of fine sand backed by Europe's only native date-palm forest. The setting feels improbably tropical for the Mediterranean, and the contrast with the dry hills around it is exactly what makes the place so photographed.
It is busy from June through August — beach-bar music, sunbeds, paid parking. Come early or late in the day, or visit in spring or autumn for the place at its best. A footpath leads up the headland to viewpoints over the bay; the smaller beach at Psili Ammos south of Vai is wilder and almost always quiet.